A thug who danced around the body of a 25-year-old he killed in a street attack and raised his arms in triumph has been jailed for 18 years today.

Jason Morrissey admitted the manslaughter of James Tynan in the unprovoked assault in Thurles, Co Tipperary.

The 23-year-old Toomevara psycho, who had 85 previous convictions, was out of his mind on alcohol and valium.

In a victim impact statement, James’ heartbroken mum Dolores Tynan described the trauma of his death.

Mrs Tynan said: “We will never forget the phone call from Clonmel hospital to tell us our son was gravely ill and to get there as quickly as possible, the nightmare drive, to see him lying there attached to machines, the life gone out of him.

“Our lovely boy just lying there and he looked beautiful.”

Nenagh Circuit Court heard James died in hospital on February 20, 2012, a day after being punched in the head after he left a nightclub in Thurles.

Mrs Tynan added his death wasn’t in vain as her son had wanted to be an organ donor and that when he died, “he gave life to six people”.

Det Sgt James White told the court James arrived in Thurles from his hometown of Johnstown, Co Kilkenny, with friends on February 18.

At around 1.25am the following morning he was standing outside a hotel after leaving the nightclub, facing a laneway.

Morrissey walked up the laneway, spoke to a security guard at a side entrance to the hotel and then walked back towards where James was standing.

He increased his speed and ran towards James, who took two steps back when he saw Morrissey approach.

The two men didn’t know each other. Sgt White said the killer struck James in the face “with a clenched fist” in an unprovoked manner, causing him to fall.

James’ head struck the ground and he lay motionless on the concrete pavement.

Sgt White added: “Jason Morrissey then, in some sort of triumphant gesture, stood beside James Tynan on the ground and, with two clenched fists, raised his arms aloft.

“He did a small semi-circular dance and raised his hands again above his head.”

Members of the Tynan family wept as these details were outlined to the court. The incident was captured on CCTV and shown to Morrissey after his arrest.

He denied the assault during an initial Garda interview but admitted it after being shown the footage.

Morrissey told gardai he felt like “we fought for 12 rounds, even though I knew it was only one slap”.

He said he “felt good, like, like I had won a fight”.

When he walked away and saw the victim wasn’t moving, he started to panic.

The court heard Morrissey had 85 previous convictions, including 10 for assault, and was on bail for unrelated public order offences when he assaulted James.

He had a history of alcohol and drug abuse and had drank about 12 cans of beer and cider as well as taken some valium tablets the night before the attack.

A letter written by Morrissey was read out in court, stating he was “deeply sorry” to James, his family and friends and how it was never in his mind to take a person’s life.

The thug had also pleaded guilty to three more unconnected assaults causing harm to three other victims in the same month he killed James.

Judge Thomas Teehan sentenced Morrissey to 14 years for manslaughter, three years consecutive for an unrelated attack and two sentences of two years each for two further assaults. There was also a concurrent sentence of two years for a theft charge.